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9.09.2011

Woman dies after hot beef injection

A Homewood woman died Thursday shortly after injecting heated beef fat into her face, but the injection, the latest in a series, did not cause her death, authorities said.

An autopsy Friday determined that 63-year-old Janet Hardt died of peritonitis, a severe abdominal inflammation caused by a bacterial infection, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Infections in her face from the injections did not lead to her death, which was ruled natural, officials with the medical examiner’s office said.

A short time before Hardt died, she injected heated beef fat into her face around her mouth and chin, a procedure she had done before on several occasions, according to a source. Hardt had infections in her mouth and lip as well as scarring from performing the injections “for some time,’’ the source said, adding that she previously had multiple facial surgeries.

On Thursday, Hardt went to the hospital after complaining that her face felt like it was burning, the source said.